This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Bhaskar Sharma
Hello dev.to community! 
Yesterday, I explored Ansible — automating configuration management. Today, I’m diving into Jenkins, one of the most widely used tools for Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery (CI/CD).
Why Jenkins Matters
Manually building, testing, and deploying applications slows down development. Jenkins automates this process, ensuring faster delivery with fewer errors.
Open-source & widely adopted
Plugin-rich (1,800+ plugins for integration)
Automates build, test, and deploy workflows
Works with any language, cloud, or container platform
Core Jenkins Concepts
Jobs/Pipelines → Define build & deploy workflows.
Agents/Nodes → Where the jobs run (local or remote machines).
Plugins → Extend Jenkins to integrate with GitHub, Docker, Kubernetes, etc.
Declarative Pipelines (Jenkinsfile) → Code-based definition of CI/CD pipelines.
Example: Simple Jenkins Pipeline
Jenkinsfile:
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('Build') {
steps {
echo 'Building the application...'
}
}
stage('Test') {
steps {
echo 'Running tests...'
}
}
stage('Deploy') {
steps {
echo 'Deploying application...'
}
}
}
}
Save this as Jenkinsfile in your repo. Jenkins will detect it and run the pipeline.
DevOps Use Cases
Automate build & test cycles
Trigger deployments on every Git push
Integrate with Docker & Kubernetes for containerized delivery
Run security scans (SonarQube, Trivy) in the pipeline
Enable CI/CD for microservices
Pro Tips
Use declarative pipelines for readability & maintainability.
Store your Jenkins configuration as code (Jenkinsfile).
Integrate GitHub/GitLab webhooks to auto-trigger builds.
Use agents (Docker, VMs) for scalable execution.
Hands-on Mini-Lab (Try this!)
1⃣ Install Jenkins (Docker run or local setup).
2⃣ Connect Jenkins with your GitHub repo.
3⃣ Write a Jenkinsfile for build → test → deploy.
4⃣ Push code and watch the pipeline run automatically.
Key Takeaway:
Jenkins automates your entire CI/CD lifecycle — from build to deployment. It’s a must-have skill for DevOps engineers who want to streamline delivery pipelines.
Tomorrow (Day 14):
I’ll explore GitHub Actions — a cloud-native way to build CI/CD pipelines without managing servers. 
#Jenkins #DevOps #CICD #Automation #SRE #CloudNative
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Bhaskar Sharma